David Martinson, Lecturer

Office: South Engineering 318D
Phone: 231-7020
Email: David.Martinson@ndsu.edu

I'm a writer who has been a lecturer in the English department over 20 years. Students in my creative writing classes read and write poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, and plays. As part of class, students publish their own work in the form of chapbooks, broadsides, posters, bookmarks, post cards, cds, and videos--formats that allow them to be read by different kinds of audiences. Sometimes we give public readings of our work and visit bookstores, art galleries, and coffee houses to stimulate our need to write and participate in the creative community around us.

I also teach first year composition courses-English 110 and 120. I like the first year courses because of their democratic nature. Students get to know each other. Additionally I teach English 121, English Honors Composition II, in the NDSU Scholars Proram. This is a reading-intensive seminar focused around the theme "Justice and Vengeance."

Before coming to NDSU I was Writer in Residence for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and before that I worked as a poet in the schools for arts agencies in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Many of my poems have been published in little magazines, journals, and anthologies. Occasionally I will publish someone else's work in Aluminum Canoe, a little magazine I edit. Here are a couple poems I have written.

Raves

A raven came to my house.
I said, "Go away,
I have a lover."
But my heart cried out,
"Stay, I will feed you."

This poem was written after a raven-shiny dark as obsidian-hung around a cabin on the St. Croix River where I once lived. The poem was first published in my second book of poems-Strips and Shavings. One day a student recited the poem at the beginning of a 120 class; he had copied it out from a poster where it had been printed as part of the Poetry on Wheels project where poems are displayed on Fargo-Moorhead busses.

The River Otter

(for Carol)

Because we are in love
We balance on tree boughs
Torn from the flood bank
Over and under the water
Like rare river otters
Who see beneath the surface
Better than above.

Carol (Pearson) is my wife, a Spanish professor in the Modern Language department at NDSU. We live across the street from the Red River and love the wildlife in our neighborhood-deer, raccoons, wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, and last spring, a river otter. It's true, otter eyes see clearer under water than above!

And one last poem, dedicated to Tom McGrath who was my mentor and once taught in NDSU's English department. I've written articles about Tom and edited collections of his work for North Dakota's Humanities Council. I think everyone should read his masterpiece-Letter to an Imaginary Friend.

Hinges

(in memory of Tom McGrath)

After he died he moved
In a great hurry.

Not packing
Before a long journey
Or pacing
Near women
In labor,

But answering a voice
Reminding him what to do
When moonlight
Looks down on water.

He left all windows open
Not even closing the door.

Later I took down the door
And carted it off to the river.

My grief floated off with the current.
I still hold on to the hinges.

Last modified: August 24, 2008